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475.58 OBLIGATIONS; ELECTIONS TO DETERMINE ISSUE.
    Subdivision 1. Approval by electors; exceptions. Obligations authorized by law or charter
may be issued by any municipality upon obtaining the approval of a majority of the electors
voting on the question of issuing the obligations, but an election shall not be required to authorize
obligations issued:
(1) to pay any unpaid judgment against the municipality;
(2) for refunding obligations;
(3) for an improvement or improvement program, which obligation is payable wholly or
partly from the proceeds of special assessments levied upon property specially benefited by the
improvement or by an improvement within the improvement program, or from tax increments, as
defined in section 469.174, subdivision 25, including obligations which are the general obligations
of the municipality, if the municipality is entitled to reimbursement in whole or in part from the
proceeds of such special assessments or tax increments and not less than 20 percent of the cost
of the improvement or the improvement program is to be assessed against benefited property or
is to be paid from the proceeds of federal grant funds or a combination thereof, or is estimated
to be received from tax increments;
(4) payable wholly from the income of revenue producing conveniences;
(5) under the provisions of a home rule charter which permits the issuance of obligations of
the municipality without election;
(6) under the provisions of a law which permits the issuance of obligations of a municipality
without an election;
(7) to fund pension or retirement fund liabilities pursuant to section 475.52, subdivision 6;
(8) under a capital improvement plan under section 373.40; and
(9) under sections 469.1813 to 469.1815 (property tax abatement authority bonds), if the
proceeds of the bonds are not used for a purpose prohibited under section 469.176, subdivision
4g
, paragraph (b).
    Subd. 1a. Resubmission limitation. If the electors do not approve the issuing of obligations
at an election required by subdivision 1, the question of authorizing the obligations for the same
purpose and in the same amount may not be submitted to the electors within a period of 180 days
from the date the election was held. If the question of authorizing the obligations for the same
purpose and in the same amount is not approved a second time it may not be submitted to the
electors within a period of one year after the second election.
    Subd. 2. Funding, refunding. Any county, city, town, or school district whose outstanding
gross debt, including all items referred to in section 475.51, subdivision 4, exceed in amount 1.62
percent of its market value may issue bonds under this subdivision for the purpose of funding or
refunding such indebtedness or any part thereof. A list of the items of indebtedness to be funded
or refunded shall be made by the recording officer and treasurer and filed in the office of the
recording officer. The initial resolution of the governing body shall refer to this subdivision as
authority for the issue, state the amount of bonds to be issued and refer to the list of indebtedness
to be funded or refunded. This resolution shall be published once each week for two successive
weeks in a legal newspaper published in the municipality or if there be no such newspaper, in a
legal newspaper published in the county seat. Such bonds may be issued without the submission of
the question of their issue to the electors unless within ten days after the second publication of the
resolution a petition requesting such election signed by ten or more voters who are taxpayers of
the municipality, shall be filed with the recording officer. In event such petition is filed, no bonds
shall be issued hereunder unless authorized by a majority of the electors voting on the question.
    Subd. 3.[Expired.]
    Subd. 3a. Youth ice facilities. A municipality may, without regard to the election
requirement under subdivision 1 or under any other provision of law or home rule charter, issue
and sell obligations to refund existing debt of an indoor ice arena that is used predominantly for
youth athletic activity if all the following conditions are met:
(1) the obligations are secured by a pledge of revenues from the facility; and
(2) the governing body of the municipality finds, based on analysis provided by a
professional experienced in finance, that the facility's revenues and other available money will
be sufficient to pay the obligations, without reliance on a property tax levy or the municipality's
general purpose state aid.
    Subd. 3b. Street reconstruction. (a) A municipality may, without regard to the election
requirement under subdivision 1, issue and sell obligations for street reconstruction, if the
following conditions are met:
(1) the streets are reconstructed under a street reconstruction plan that describes the streets
to be reconstructed, the estimated costs, and any planned reconstruction of other streets in the
municipality over the next five years, and the plan and issuance of the obligations has been
approved by a vote of all of the members of the governing body following a public hearing for
which notice has been published in the official newspaper at least ten days but not more than 28
days prior to the hearing; and
(2) if a petition requesting a vote on the issuance is signed by voters equal to five percent of
the votes cast in the last municipal general election and is filed with the municipal clerk within 30
days of the public hearing, the municipality may issue the bonds only after obtaining the approval
of a majority of the voters voting on the question of the issuance of the obligations.
(b) Obligations issued under this subdivision are subject to the debt limit of the municipality
and are not excluded from net debt under section 475.51, subdivision 4.
(c) For purposes of this subdivision, street reconstruction includes utility replacement
and relocation and other activities incidental to the street reconstruction, turn lanes and other
improvements having a substantial public safety function, realignments, other modifications to
intersect with state and county roads, and the local share of state and county road projects.
(d) Except in the case of turn lanes, safety improvements, realignments, intersection
modifications, and the local share of state and county road projects, street reconstruction does
not include the portion of project cost allocable to widening a street or adding curbs and gutters
where none previously existed.
    Subd. 4. Proper use of bond proceeds. The proceeds of obligations issued after approval
of the electors under this section may only be spent: (1) for the purposes stated in the ballot
language; or (2) to pay, redeem, or defease obligations and interest, penalties, premiums, and costs
of issuance of the obligations. The proceeds may not be spent for a different purpose or for an
expansion of the original purpose without the approval by a majority of the electors voting on the
question of changing or expanding the purpose of the obligations.
History: (1938-6) 1927 c 131 s 4; 1949 c 682 s 8; 1951 c 422 s 4; 1955 c 298 s 1; 1969 c
446 s 1; 1971 c 886 s 1; 1971 c 903 s 3; 1973 c 123 art 5 s 7; 1974 c 380 s 8,9; 1Sp1985 c 14 art
8 s 53; 1988 c 519 s 4; 1988 c 719 art 5 s 84; 1989 c 329 art 13 s 20; 1990 c 480 art 9 s 22; 1991
c 342 s 16; 1995 c 256 s 26,27; 1996 c 463 s 48; 1998 c 389 art 3 s 25; art 8 s 24; 1999 c 248 s
14; 2001 c 214 s 43; 1Sp2001 c 5 art 15 s 28; 2002 c 390 s 18; 2003 c 127 art 12 s 23; 1Sp2003 c
21 art 10 s 11; 2005 c 152 art 1 s 31; 2006 c 259 art 10 s 11

Official Publication of the State of Minnesota
Revisor of Statutes